Helmut Schmidt Programme on Global Issues (HSP)

The Helmut Schmidt Programme on Global Issues is one of the newest Training for International Diplomats Programmes. In honour of the deceased Chancellor (ret.) Helmut Schmidt the Programme was launched in 2016 is geared to high-ranking diplomats from the G20 countries who work in the fields of policy planning and global issues.

The programme was inspired by Helmut Schmidt and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who, as founding fathers of the G7, sought to establish an informal forum for frank debate and for concerted efforts to solve international problems. The focus is on peace and security in the world, as well as on joint responsible action. An emphasis is placed on current issues such as climate change, dealing with the scarcity of raw materials, resource security, energy, disarmament, infrastructure matters and counter-terrorism.

The Programme is taking place in three cities: Berlin, the place of Helmut Schmidt’s mandate as a Minister and Chancellor; Hamburg, his birthplace, stands for his work as a publisher of the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit; and Paris, where Helmut Schmidt and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing shaped Franco-German cooperation and positively impacted cohesion within Europe beyond this bilateral relationship.


The metamorphosis of the international system of the 21st century has also had an impact on the way diplomacy needs to be done. Personal contacts, as well as durable national and international networks which reach far beyond classical diplomatic channels to include civil society stakeholders, are becoming ever more important. Encouraging participants to talk openly, informally, and even contentiously about global issues and crisis regions is very much the aim of the Programme. The seminar also serves as a means of enhancing dialogue and networking between decision-makers from the participating countries.